The Philosopher's Stone POV Change
by rezzkat
Summary: Episode 8 of the anime: we watch Edward get tied up and then take down Barry the Chopper, but what was going on at the same time with his rescue team? Starts from a little before Edward wakes up and goes to after he was rescued, might add in an extra scene between Roy and Edward at the end, not sure. Parental!RoyEd, but could be RoyEd if you really want it to be, I guess.
1. Chapter 1

**Episode 8 POV Change- Chapter 1**

The shrill ringing of the phone cut through the usual office noises, waking Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang from his nap. His head snapped up and he blinked the blurriness from his vision, he yawned as he grabbed his phone and brought it up to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked after clearing his throat, trying to keep the exhaustion out of his voice.

"Yo, Roy! Is Edward in your office?" the usual cheery voice of his friend Hughes was subdued as he cut right to the chase of why he was calling. No obsessive family man comments about his daughter or wife… What was wrong?

"No, he isn't, why?" A sigh was his response followed by the sound of Hughes shouting something to his secretary. "Hughes?" Roy tried again a small feeling of worry for his youngest subordinate making itself known.

"Sorry Roy, but could I get you to come help me out? I have reasons to believe that Ed's been kidnapped."

"What?" he snapped, a tad too loud, causing his subordinates to look up from their work to see what was wrong with their superior.

"Look, I know it sounds odd, but if you'd just meet me downstairs I'll explain everything. Bring someone with you, we're going after that serial killer," and with that, Hughes hung up, leaving Roy to listen to the dial tone for a few moments.

"Tch!" Roy slammed the phone down on to the cradle and stood up, grabbing his gloves from the desk drawer, then walking to the coat rack and grabbing his black overcoat to throw on overtop his military uniform. Evening was coming up fast and the temperature would be going down with the sun. By this point, all of his subordinates were staring at him with puzzled expressions, except Lieutenant Hawkeye, who was checking the ammunition in her guns before settling them back in their holsters. "Let's go," he ordered while walking right past her and opening the door.

"Yes sir!" she responded immediately, not bothering to ask questions, since she knew that she'd be told eventually.

"We'll be back," he informed the others still at their desks as he and Hawkeye swept out the door and let it swing shut.

* * *

"Hughes! You owe me an explanation!" Roy called as he walked down the steps and over to his friend who was reading a file of some sort while a soldier spoke quietly to him. At Roy's approach the soldier snapped back into a respectful salute that Roy ignored in favor of waiting for Hughes to look at him.

"According to this soldier, Edward had been called out here to see a visitor, a friend it seems, but upon getting out here the visitor was gone. Ed picked up a screw and looked at some tracks, then asked if there was a truck parked out here, which there was: a refrigerated truck that delivers food to the cafeteria here every week. Ed mentioned something about hiding a body, and then took off without another word. Is that right?" Hughes looked at the soldier, who nodded and said, "Yes sir, he seemed worried about something."

Roy didn't say anything, as he figured there was more to the story, and he was right as Hughes started speaking once more after scanning the file again. "Edward and myself had just finished a conversation about how the serial killer was possibly killing people in a secluded area and then using a car to bring them to the spot where he disposes them," he looked up at Roy, waiting for him to arrive at a conclusion. It didn't take long.

"You're saying that the serial killer is using a refrigerated truck to transport bodies and now he's kidnapped one of Fullmetal's friends and on top of that, the punk's going after the killer by himself?" Roy asked, scratching his jaw in thought. When Hughes nodded he sighed, "So what? I'm sure Fullmetal doesn't need any help," Roy pointed out, feeling a bit perturbed, why was Hughes so worried about the shrimp?

"Roy." Hughes said seriously, "Ed ran off about five hours ago and even Alphonse doesn't know where he is."

That caught Roy's attention. As if on cue Alphonse came jogging up to the group and even without facial expressions, the suit of armor seemed to permeate a sense of worry and tension as he came closer, "Lieutenant Colonel-!"

"I'm sorry Alphonse, I just found out about this myself," he admitted, cutting the boy off before he got any further with his question.

"But, what are we going to do?! What if Brother is hurt, or-"

"Alphonse! I told you, I don't know. That doesn't mean that we're not going to do anything," Roy tried to calm him as he turned back to Hughes. "Where does that truck come from? What business?"

"Don't know. I'm having someone call the company that sold the truck right now," Hughes said, returning his attention to his file, "Maybe Ed's not even in trouble? This guy only preys on women, I mean, there's always the possibility, but perhaps the risk isn't that high."

Roy and Al shared a look, as they both doubted that notion. After a few minutes of anxiously waiting a different soldier ran up to Hughes and snapped a salute before speaking. "The company said that they sold the truck to a man named Barry Saytantes, who owns a butcher shop not too far from here, I've already looked up the name," he added as an afterthought, while handing the address to Hughes, before he could be asked how he knew that.

"Well? Let's get going!" Al spoke impatiently, trying to look over Hughes' shoulder to see the address.

"Alphonse, you do realize we can't just run in there without a plan, right?" Roy's voice trailed off as Al turned to him with _anger _just radiating off of him, who knew that Al had it in him to get angry about anything?

"Of course I do! I'm not dumb Colonel, but we should talk about it in the car! Brother and Winry could be in trouble!" he snapped with annoyance. _Is that the name of whatever friend had come to visit Fullmetal? __Must be_, Roy mused to himself as he gave a curt nod in agreement. Hughes called orders to his soldiers, while Roy, Hawkeye and Alphonse got into a car to wait for Hughes; the only one who knew where to go.

Hughes opened the door, slipped into the seat and pulled on his seatbelt mere moments later and started the ignition. "Alright! Who's ready to go save a certain trouble maker and his friend?" he proclaimed lightly, while Roy rolled his eyes and looked out the window in apprehension, somehow, the longer it took to get going, the more foreboding he felt.

_You better be okay Fullmetal._

* * *

**AN: There. My first fiction for this fandom and my first fiction on this account! **

**I just made up Barry's last name... I was tempted to just make it something like "Chopper" or "Sixty-Six" but that would be called: Not trying, haha.**

**Yeah, it's short and I was going to do the entire thing in one chapter, but I really don't feel like it right now. So I'll probably get the second chapter posted within the week, *grumbles* I was gonna get it done right now, but noooo! Just had to start feeling sick! Ugh. As for editing, I've barely glanced over it, so I'm going to do that, probably, tomorrow. It's definitely not my best work, but I think it's okay for a quick little idea.**

**Have a good day and if you've got snow galore outside, like I do, then have fun/stay safe!**

**~MBK **


	2. Chapter 2

**Episode 8 POV Change- Chapter 2**

By the time Hughes had begun pulling in to the lot, Roy was almost bouncing in his anxiousness to get in there and see what was taking Fullmetal so damn long. As soon as the car stopped he had the door open and was stepping out to survey the outside of the building. It was unremarkable in every way, except that it gave off an air of extreme tension.

Al was out of the car just as quickly, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to just run in there and save his brother and friend immediately, but he had agreed to follow through with the operation with caution. Who knew what the killer's motives were? Who knew what he would do? The plan wasn't very complex, just to send in a small group to survey the situation quickly and then they would come back any further course of action would be decided by Roy, Hughes and Hawkeye. Whether violence, diplomacy or stealth was required would depend on the first group's report.

The group of soldiers chosen to go in first double checked their guns, and then congregated at the entrance to the building with the higher commanding officers and Alphonse. "Remember, the goal is to go in there and get all the information you can quickly, if something goes wrong… Just, stay on your toes," Hughes ordered in a low voice. The soldiers saluted, and then went in.

Roy was on the verge of pacing while they waited just inside the building, he hated to just sit back and do nothing.

"No!" a cry just faintly echoed out from within the building and it set all four of them bristling.

"That was Brother!" Alphonse cried out worriedly, only to be shushed by Hawkeye's hand on his arm.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know, don't worry Alphonse, I'm sure it'll be-" Roy trailed off at the glow of a transmutation that they could barely see from their place at the entrance and one of the soldiers jogging back to meet them. "Report!" Roy snapped and then quieted as Hughes shot him a look that told him to calm down.

"Yes sir! Elric was tied to a chair and appears to be missing his right arm, while there is a girl gagged and bound to a meat hook. However after the killer exchanged a few words with Elric, he managed to activate a transmutation to get rid of his bindings; he's fighting the killer now. The other soldiers are still there ready to step in at your command, sir!"

Hughes nodded and thought for a moment, "Go in there and wait a moment, maybe Ed can handle it, if the situation starts looking bad then we need to intervene, but we don't want to get in the way. Take Alphonse with you, he could be of some help," he added as he saw that Al was about to run in there whether he was allowed to or not.

"Well, I should go to, don't you think? I am his commanding officer," Roy pointed out in an attempted to hide the worry that was clawing at his gut.

"That's why you're here in the first place, I'm sure the soldiers can handle this though…" Hughes added on to his statement before Roy could interject again, "but, I suppose, that it wouldn't hurt if you went in as back-up in case things go terribly wrong." Roy just nodded and turned to the soldier who was already off to show him and Alphonse the way.

As they got further out of ear shot, Roy could barely hear as Hughes grumbled out a complaint to Hawkeye, which sounded a lot like, "Geez, I am such a pushover!"

It only took a few seconds to get to where the other soldiers were waiting; they were all grouped up next to the door into the giant freezer, the opening being concealed with a plastic strip door. The soldier relayed orders to the others while Roy and Alphonse pushed some of the strips out of their way to peek into the next room. They couldn't see anyone, but Fullmetal's trademark fighting noises were heard… At least, that's what they had sounded like at first, but upon closer listen they were actually just gasps and shouts of terror.

"What the hell?" Roy muttered attempting to see past all the hanging pigs, but it was to no avail, they were deeper in, "How do you guys know anything from sitting back here? You can't see a single thing!" he turned to the soldiers.

"We retreated back here when they started running through the place, since we don't have orders to engage yet," one replied simply. Roy just turned back to looking and was rewarded with a quick flash of what looked like Fullmetal running from some man; the killer, he presumed.

"Obviously, I was wrong earlier, Fullmetal can't handle this one," he stated in a faux exasperated tone, pushing through the strip door and getting ready to jump in and save his subordinate from whatever it was he was having trouble with.

Just before he could push through the first set of pigs hanging from the ceiling, he froze as a blood curdling scream suddenly rang throughout the whole building, it would be safe to bet that even Hughes had heard it. "Brother!" Al called running forward in a panic.

"Wait Alphonse! Don't run in there half-cocked, stay calm and let's get your brother," Roy attempted to calm him, while fighting against his instinct to do exactly as Al was going to. "Come on!" he ordered the three soldiers who were unsure if they were supposed to help or not, but at Roy's okay they pulled out their guns and rushed in.

The clang of metal on metal became very clear soon enough, along with laughter and Edward's shrieks of pain and fear. As they neared in on the fight, Roy took in the scene with widened eyes. The entire set up was just out of some cliché crime novel. There was Edward, forced to the ground with his automail arm blade raised in defense as the kidnapper, Barry, swung at him with a meat cleaver, laughing hysterically. Then the blonde girl, Winry, standing on a stool way in the back staring at the other two, while screaming around her gag, bound to a meat hook, as described.

Sparks flew as each hit from the cleaver became more forceful, and the occasional blood splatter each time Barry managed to get a hit. The girl looked up and caught sight of them and in her surprise she toppled off of her stool, backwards and with her momentum ended up getting a line of meat hooks and, in turn, hanging pigs moving along the pulley system. It just so happened that Barry was standing right in the way and was knocked down on top of Edward with a yelp of surprise as a pig rammed him in the back.

Edward shouted out in shock and the two pushed away from each other and just as Barry raised his knife for a swing, Ed brought his blade up and out, knocking the cleaver from Barry's hands. The man gasped and reached for the knife before turning back to Edward, who pulled his blade back for an attack.

_Is he going to kill him?! _Roy thought in alarm, wishing that it wasn't true; Edward was too young to take a life, even if he was in the military, but as he saw the blond's eyes wide and brimming with tears, he knew that it was possible. The desperation was driving the boy to drastic measures and Roy knew that if it weren't for Al's quick grab for his arm just as he gave a scream of determination and swung, that Barry would not be alive for an arrest.

As it was, Edward's adrenaline running high, he still turned with a panicked gasp and slashed at his own brother's chest, but this action seemed to signal the end of the frightening experience. Roy about deflated with relief as the soldiers moved in, releasing Winry from her chains while the other one pointed his gun at Barry who just grinned and shrugged, which had Roy close to setting him on fire.

"They're in here!" the soldier shouted over his shoulder which prompted Roy to turn and see Hughes and Hawkeye running towards them. It was after the movement stilled that Roy realized with frustration that he really didn't do anything to help, he had just been there, possibly in the way… Useless… Man, did he hate that word, especially when it was describing himself.

A sniffle cut through his thoughts though and he looked at the two brothers, he had missed whatever it was Al had said, but he was tuning in just in time to feel his heart clench in pity.

"Al…" another tear fell. "Brother, does that hurt?" Al asked softly, obviously referring to Edward's left arm that had been sliced repeatedly. Roy fought the urge to interject, but the brother's needed a moment to themselves, he turned to Hughes to give them some semblance of privacy, but he still heard every word.

"I thought I was going to be killed. I really thought that I might die… I was scared. Terribly… Terribly scared…" Edward managed to choke out before a few more stifled sobs cut him off. Hughes was looking over Roy's shoulder with a look of pity, but then he turned to one of the other soldiers that had followed him in.

"Go get some blankets," he ordered quietly, "Come on Roy, grab your subordinate, let's get out of this building," without looking at him, he began walking towards the exit.

Roy heaved a sigh and turned to Hawkeye, gesturing to Winry in a sign that she should go get her while he tended to Edward. She nodded and went to the girl, giving her a soft reassuring smile and gently guided her away from where she was staring at Ed and Al, she reluctantly began to follow.

He came up next to Al and offered a hand to Edward who barely spared him a glance as he fought to keep his last sobs choked down. "Come on Fullmetal, it's been a long day, huh? Let's go get your injuries checked out," he suggested gently, unsure if his usually bratty subordinate would even accept his help, but after only a moment of hesitation, Edward transmuted his blade away and reached up to take his hand with his left arm, to which Roy flinched. Those cuts had to sting.

Roy pulled him to his feet and put his hand on his back, between his shoulder blades and gave him an encouraging nudge to get him walking, a soldier was already running towards them with a folded blanket in hand that Alphonse moved forward to grab. Together, Roy and Al got the blanket draped over Edward's shoulders, but he refused to look up from the ground as they walked and Al tried to talk to him.

They got outside and Roy steered the two brothers towards the steps of the building next door and set them down there while he went back to see if he was "needed for anything," but it was really just his cover up to give Ed and Al a bit of time to themselves, they didn't need him to be breathing down their necks just because of this one incident, Fullmetal wouldn't let him live it down if he started acting like a mother-hen now.

Winry, with a blanket clutched tightly around herself, she had tears in her eyes, much like Fullmetal did, and she was standing with Hawkeye, who had her hands supportively resting on her shoulders. "Is he okay?" Winry asked as soon as he got close enough.

"Fullmetal's alright, he's just a bit shaken up, as I'm sure you are," Roy responded reassuringly, without pause, but Winry just nodded hesitantly staring in the brother's direction. He turned to see what had her looking distressed and frowned deeply again, he'd expected Fullmetal to only take a moment to collect himself and then he'd be just fine, but his shoulders began shaking again and it looked as though, he was not even close to calming down. But, of course, he was still only a kid and it was easy to forget that sometimes.

Roy was startled from his thoughts as Fullmetal suddenly yelled out loud enough for them to hear: "We're only human!" and then he hid his face back in his hands and it looked as though his crying had begun again renewed. He sighed and looked at Winry who had begun to cry again herself and ran a hand through his hair.

"So is the arrest taken care of?" Roy asked just as Hughes had made his way over to him.

"Yep, all taken care of, he won't be hurting anyone again," he added more as an afterthought as he noticed Winry standing nearby, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"Am I still needed here? I think I should be getting back to the office soon. You can send me the paperwork later tonight, or tomorrow, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that's fine," Hughes agreed, realizing Roy's ulterior motive, which was just to get Fullmetal away from all the eyes on him while he experienced one of his weaker moments, it was a nice gesture on Roy's part.

"Good, I'll see you soon, thanks for helping my subordinate out, I'll make sure he tells you himself later,"

"Nah, don't worry about it, I'm just glad we got here before anything too bad happened," Hughes grinned, but said the last part in a very lower tone. Whether he was talking about Fullmetal getting hurt, or the fact that he almost killed someone, it didn't matter, the point was that nothing like that happened and now everyone was safe.

"Alright, I'll go get Fullmetal and then we'll get out of your way," he said lightly, looking up to see that Hawkeye was a step ahead of him and was ushering Winry inside of the car. Roy headed over to Fullmetal and his brother and waved his hand towards the car at Al, who got the message and helped his brother to his feet.

"Careful Brother," Al warned as Fullmetal almost stumbled on his still shaking legs, _I guess he was more frightened by this than I first thought, _Roy took a step forward and helped keep the boy steady as they cleared the rest of the distance to the car.

When he was done helping Al get his brother into the vehicle he got in the driver's seat and started the car up. Hawkeye was in the passenger seat and Winry was in the front, in the middle, while Fullmetal and Al took up the spaces in the back.

"Let's get back to the office, I'm sure the others are slacking off in their work now that Hawkeye and I aren't there," he joked, trying to lighten everyone's mood, to which he saw Winry give a small, sad attempt at a smile and Hawkeye's mouth barely twitch, before she resumed her usual stoic expression and Fullmetal and Al didn't even give an indication that they'd heard. He'd so badly wanted some smart ass comment, but it seemed that, that would be asking for too much right now.

It looked as though it would take a bit of time before Fullmetal would open back up, maybe Roy would even have a quick talk with him when they got back.

* * *

**AN: Alright, it's a bit longer this time. Also I only skimmed through this chapter and fixed some of the more obvious mistakes (typos and such,) and I've decided that I'll go in and edit this story when I'm done, which should be next chapter. I hope. I just felt like that was an okay place to cut off, haha! Sorry if it's a bit choppy or wordy, but like I said, I'll get that fixed later.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed, faved and followed! **

**Not so human (Guest): Thank you for your support, I decided that you were right and while I was doing light edits last chapter I went ahead and changed my Author's Note too. Hope I updated at least in a semi-fast way for you!**

**Speaking of edits; Someone pointed out to me that I had Roy's rank wrong in the last chapter and I fixed that too, so hopefully I don't forget that he's a Lieutenant Colonel again, hehe!**

**Thanks for the support, expect the next and last chapter soon!**

**~MBK **


	3. Chapter 3

**Episode 8 POV Change- Chapter 3**

A good thirty minutes later, Roy found himself in his office kneeling next to the couch, where Fullmetal sat, and tending to his cuts with the first aid kit that they kept on hand. Alphonse was gone at the moment to get a bottle of water for his brother and the door that separated the outer office from the inner office was shut, leaving the two, more or less, alone.

Fullmetal still refused to look at him and his only outward reaction to the first aid Roy was doing was the occasional wince as he dabbed at his arm with disinfectant.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Roy finally sighed and broke the silence, causing Fullmetal to finally look up at him.

"Talk about what?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

He didn't respond, so Roy just huffed quietly and reached for the bandages and began wrapping the arm.

"Have you ever been in a situation where you thought you would die?"

Roy paused for a moment, and then went back to bandaging, "Of course I have. I was in the war after all."

"…what happened?"

He paused once again, debating between actually telling him or not. "My gloves got blood on them and I got swarmed by a group of Ishvalans and taken to their… Leader, I guess you could say."

This caused Fullmetal to look up at him with widened eyes as if he couldn't even fathom the idea of his commanding officer getting beaten by anyone, which almost caused Roy to smile, instead he kept going with his story. "They were going to use me as a bargaining chip, but once they realized that the military didn't give enough of a damn to actually negotiate, they arranged for my execution. I was just about to get a bullet to the brain when the executioner got sniped himself and a group of soldiers rushed in and saved my ass." He left out that it was Hawkeye and his other subordinates that got him out, but based on Fullmetal's expression, he didn't need to.

After another moment of hesitation he spoke again, "Looking back on it, there was a few times that I could have escaped, especially during the actual execution, but I was too busy shaking in my boots to actually do anything. I was terrified that I was going to die."

"You were?"

"I'm not exactly fearless Fullmetal, no matter how much you think I am," he teased lightly, causing a light blush to spread across the blond's face.

"Sh-shut up! I never said that… I'm surprised you're not scared more often since you're so useless," he snapped, much to Roy's chagrin.

"You mean to say that you don't look up to me as a most admirable role model?"

"You wish!"

A minute of silence stretched between the two, but instead of the awkward atmosphere that they had experience before, this was more of a comfortable silence.

"You did well Fullmetal," Roy spoke with a hint of pride coloring his voice, as he laid down a final bandage to cover the deeper cut on his shoulder that had already received stitches.

"Yeah, running around and crying did me a lot of good,"

Rolling his eyes at the self-deprecating tone, Roy stood up, "You're alive aren't you? Anyone else your age wouldn't have even been able to escape in the first place. Especially with only one arm."

Fullmetal seemed surprised at his knowledge of the incident, before he seemed to realize that, of course, Roy would have gotten ahold of that information somehow or another.

"Thanks Mustang."

Roy breathed a short laugh and smiled as he reached out a hand and ruffled his subordinate's hair quickly, then stepped away before he could be snapped at. He shut the first-aid kit and put it back into its storage place, ignoring the bewildered look that Fullmetal was giving him.

It was then that Alphonse arrived back in the room, immediately rushing to his brother's side to sit down next to him and hand him the water he had gone to retrieve. "Looks like the Lieutenant Colonel did a good job bandaging up your arm! How are you feeling brother?"

"Fine Al, I'm fine. Thanks for your help" he spoke, holding the water in his lap and gently leaning on his younger brother's side. Roy raised his eyebrow slightly, but just went back to his desk to sit down with his paperwork.

"You boys are welcome to stay with one of my subordinates tonight if it'd make you feel better," Roy suggested after small a hesitation, unsure if they'd appreciate the offer or not.

"Really? Th-"

Fullmetal cut off his brother, "We can take care of ourselves."

Shame. It seemed that the nice moment they had been sharing earlier didn't mean anything to the young boy now. Or did it? He looked doubtful, as if he wasn't sure if he could accept the offer or not.

"It wouldn't be a problem, if it'd make you feel better you could come over to my house instead. I know how much safer you feel in my presence," Roy tried again, feeling a hint of satisfaction as he watched Fullmetal's shoulders slouch a bit in relief before he straightened again with a ready remark.

"Yeah right, like I said we can take care of ourselves, but I suppose we shouldn't waste the opportunity to come over and leech off of you," he tossed in an arrogant smirk at the end, though Roy could tell it was lacking some of the usual spirit.

Feigning a sigh of annoyance Roy shrugged, "Fine, fine, it's not like you'll take up much space anyways," and in response, Fullmetal just grumbled quietly about not being short, instead of blowing up. Roy decided to take it as his thanks for letting them come over.

After finishing up the last of his paperwork he grabbed his things and shooed the two brothers out the door. Roy said goodbye to Hawkeye, Falman and Fuery, the only three left in the office, then followed them out.

"Thanks again!" Alphonse told him cheerfully as he caught up with them outside, "Go ahead Brother! You should say it too."

"I don't have anything to be grateful to that bastard for," he blew him off, to which Al shook his head and Roy chuckled.

"Not a problem Alphonse," he opened the car door for them to get in, but as he started for the driver's side door he caught a glimpse of Fullmetal giving him a grateful smile, before it was gone and he ducked into the car sheepishly.

Roy stifled a smile of his own as he got in, he didn't need to say it. He heard the thanks in the gesture loud and clear.

Now how to keep Edward from eating him out of house and home? He had heard of The Fullmetal Alchemist's legendary eating habits in all of the reports.

* * *

**AN: Blah. Bad ending is bad. Sorry about that. In fact, this entire chapter is pretty clunky and awkward and I don't think I can write Edward at all, but I felt that I'd kept from posting for long enough.**

**That's another thing I have to apologize for. A really not good thing happened to me recently, but I'm finally trying to get over it, so I started working on this again. The result is not the best thing ever, but it's something.**

**Thanks for the favs, follows and reviews, they mean a lot to me. I'm not actually planning on writing anything for Edward, Al and Roy's slumber party though, so this is the end.**

**Thanks to those of you who read the whole thing and stuck around, I hope you enjoyed it to a certain extent.**

**MBK**


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